Great North Museum Hancock

The Great North Museum incorporates collections from the Hancock Museum and Newcastle University’s Museum of Antiquities, the Shefton Museum and the Hatton Gallery.

Highlights of the £26million museum include a large-scale, interactive model of Hadrian's Wall, major new displays showing the wonder and diversity of the animal kingdom, spectacular objects from the Ancient Greeks and mummies from Ancient Egypt, a planetarium and a life-size T-Rex dinosaur replica skeleton.

The Living Planet display houses hundreds of creatures and by using a mixture of touch screen technology and hands-on investigations, visitors can investigate these animals and find out where they live and how they survive in such extreme places as the arctic and desert.

Live animal tanks and aquaria are integrated into this major display where visitors can see wolf fish, pythons and lizards to name a few. Star objects include a full size model of an elephant, a great white shark, a virtual aquarium, live animal displays, a polar bear, a giraffe and moa skeleton.

Venue Type:

Museum

Opening hours

Monday to Friday: 10am to 5pmSaturdays: 10am to 4pmSundays: 11am to 4pm

Admission charges

Free

The Hancock collections represent an amalgamation of many hundreds of individual collections amassed by leading naturalists who worked not only in the North East but throughout the world, pioneering the development of natural history as a science in the 19th and 20th centuries. The collections continue to be actively used by researchers from all over the world. There is research material of international significance within all parts of the collection and this provides an irreplaceable tool by which biological and geological principles such as taxonomy, variation, speciation, geographical distribution, evolution and typology can be studied.

In addition, the Hancock Museum library houses, amongst its extensive archives, one of the largest collections in the world of the watercolours and engravings of the world-renowned, Newcastle born 18th century artist and engraver Thomas Bewick. His works, particularly the engravings featured in History of British Birds and A General History of Quadrupeds, have attracted international interest. He is regarded as the "father of wood engraving" and the success of his technique led to it becoming the most popular form of book illustration for most of the 19th century. A selection of Bewick's work is on display in the Museum in The Bewick Shrine.

The collections reflect the Museum's historic specialisation in the Natural Sciences. The collections number well over half-a-million items, and these include over 1,000 type specimens. A type specimen is the original specimen from which a new species was named. In international terms, the most important collections are the freshwater and marine crustaceans collected by Professor George Brady, and the Carboniferous vertebrate fossils collected by Thomas Atthey and Albany Hancock, some of which can be seen in the Earthworks gallery. Both collections are consulted extensively by researchers from all over the world.

In addition to these collections, the Museum owns an important collection of early vertebrate material as well as historical ethnographic material, some of which is traceable back to the voyages of Captain James Cook. Some of the ethnography collections can be seen in the World of Difference display.

When looking around the Museum you will see a wide range of collections and some truly wonderful objects including the huge fossil tree from Weardale, the giant Spider Crab, the Sea Dragon or Ichthyosaur from Whitby, the skeleton of a Moa, the animals in Abel's Ark and the vast collection of birds including extinct species such as the Great Auk, Passenger Pigeon and Dodo... and not forgetting Sparky Williams, the internationally famous talking budgerigar. Sparky died over 40 years ago but he is preserved in the Museum and visitors can hear some of his recordings.

The Hancock also possesses small collections of archaeological material, most importantly, Egyptology. Although not numerous, these collections do contain some important material, including two New Kingdom mummies which can be seen in the Land of the Pharaohs gallery. One of these, Bakt-hor-nekht, remains wrapped, and has been the subject of extensive research, including pioneering CAT- scanning work in 1991.

Collection details

Archaeology, Archives, Fine Art, Natural Sciences, World Cultures

Key artists and exhibits

Thomas Bewick

Professor George Brady

Thomas Atthey

Albany Hancock

Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.

Exhibition (permanent)

World Cultures

1 November 2014 — 1 November 2018 *on now

This gallery shows some of the most exciting objects in the museum’s collection from many world cultures – the Islands of the Pacific, the great land masses of Africa and Asia, the plains of North America, as well some parts of Europe (including Newcastle, of course!).

Suitable for

Website

Mouse House

1 November 2014 — 1 November 2018 *on now

The Mouse House is especially for our youngest visitors and their families. Designed to excite curiosity and encourage young children to explore, the Mouse House gallery is full of surprises introducing the museum’s exciting collections.

Young children and their families are also welcome to join free Mouse House activities. Visit the what's on section of our website to find out about our regular Mouse House events.

Suitable for

Family friendly

Website

Living Planet

1 November 2014 — 1 November 2018 *on now

The Bio Wall in Living Planet houses hundreds of creatures and by using a mixture of touch screen technology and hands-on investigations, visitors can investigate these animals and find out where they live and how they survive in such extreme places as the arctic and desert.

Live animal tanks and aquaria are integrated into this major display where visitors can see wolf fish, pythons and lizards to name a few.

Suitable for

Family friendly

Website

Hadrian's Wall

1 November 2014 — 1 November 2018 *on now

An interactive model of the Wall enables visitors to discover the detailed history of this amazing fortification as well as finding out about all the forts, milecastles and associated museums that can be visited today.

The gallery includes a wealth of archaeological finds and visitors can hear stories of life on the Wall from the people who actually lived at the time. Also on display is the gold Aemelia Ring, believed to be one of the earliest Christian artefacts found in Britain.

Suitable for

Website

Fossil Stories

1 November 2014 — 1 November 2018 *on now

Discover the Earth's past through its fossil record and find out how amazing some of these creatures were.

Learn about the major changes to the landscape and the animals and plants that were around millions of years ago. Visitors can become palaeontologists and re-assemble a pre-historic creature using virtual technology. Sound, touch and animation brings alive a world that disappeared millions of years ago.

This gallery also has a display on Crystals and Gems providing a sparkling story about minerals their formation, function and beauty.

Suitable for

Website

Explore More!

An exploratory space for all the family to find out about the Museum's collectors, the reasons why we collect, and the types of classification which can be adopted.

This gallery interprets the Museum's Anglo-Saxon and Medieval collections and provides a wide range of activities and handling material which can be studied either on a casual weekend visit or in a more formal class. Identification reference books and computer interactives support the themes of the natural world, ancient world and world cultures.

Suitable for

Website

Ancient Egypt

An exciting exploration of life and death in Ancient Egypt, this exhibition combines the Museum's own Ancient Egyptian collections with a number of spectacular objects on loan from the British Museum.

The exhibition takes visitors through a fascinating journey which explores how the Ancient Egyptians were shaped by the Nile and how they lived their everyday lives as well as their mystical religious beliefs. Visitors can take a dramatic journey through the transition from Life to Death by passing though a tunnel which spans a virtual River Nile.

Website

E-mail

Telephone

0191 222 6765

All information is drawn from or provided by the venues themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.